Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel says he is “deeply offended” by the criticism from the German club’s honorary president Uli Hoeness.

Bayern host Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on Tuesday, and the build-up has been dominated by Hoeness’ claim that the former Chelsea boss has neither the ability nor the desire to improve players and only wants new signings.

‘It offends me deeply’

Hoeness’ ill-timed jibe comes on the back of 20,000 Bayern fans signing a petition urging the club to reconsider their decision to part ways with Tuchel at the end of the season.

“It offends me deeply as a coach,” Tuchel said in response to Hoeness’ comments.

“If we have proven something in the coaching team over the last 15 years, it is that young players – especially from the academy – always have a place with us in training and, through performance, always have a place on the pitch.

“And by the way, we have now proven that! I have very little understanding of it. I find it absolutely baseless!

“This is actually so far away from reality that I wouldn’t have reacted to it at all if it hadn’t come from Uli. The fact that comes from our boss before Real gives it a different flavour.”

Hoeness doubles down

Having been contacted for a response to to Tuchel’s reply, Hoeness doubled down.

Despite insisting the feud has been “exaggerated by the media”, Hoeness once again claimed Tuchel is more interested in signing players than developing his current squad.

Hoeness later added that he was “determined to make his opinion clearer again”.

All this as Tuchel prepares his squad to face 14-time European champions Real Madrid at the Allianz Arena, in a game in which Tuchel admits his side will need to have “luck” on their side.

“Obviously we need tactics, but also some luck,” he said. “You can achieve a lot with tactics. The approach is the car, and the players drive it.

“We need to find a good balance and moments where we have solutions. The players also need freedom to bring it to life. But obviously we also need some luck in the game. We need to coax out that luck a bit as well.

“Against Real, you’re obviously also competing against the legend, the shirt. We’ll focus on content. Everyone’s looking forward to a great game.”